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REDLANDS: Planners approve downtown vapor lounge

Customers sit at a counter at E-Cig City 4 vape shop in Riverside. The proposed District Vapor Lounge in Redlands would have couches for customers and serve beer and wine as well as e-cigarettes and juice.

A conditional-use permit for a new downtown Redlands business called the District Vapor Lounge, which will sell beer and wine but cater to e-cigarette users, was approved on a divided vote by the cityâs Planning Commission this week.

Approval for the business is contingent on Redlands Police Chief Mark Garcia determining there is not an over-concentration of alcohol sales licenses in the downtown area.

Planning commission members were concerned that approval of the lounge could be construed as city approval of the use and sale of e-cigarettes, which are pen-sized, battery-operated vaporizers that turn flavored, scented liquids into inhalable steam.

David Kramer, who submitted the application for the business, pointed out that Redlands already has three businesses that sell e-cigarettes and the liquids, or juice, that they use.

âThis is a brand new enterprise. You wonât find anything like it anywhere else,â Kramer told the commission. âWe decided to combine a bar/lounge-type setting with the vapor lounge setting.â

The District Vapor Lounge also will serve coffee, appetizers and desserts and have live music on weekends, Kramer said. The business will be on Citrus Avenue, next to a la minute ice cream shop.

The existence of a stage â" installed by a previous occupant, Kramer said â" caused the commissioners to worry that the lounge would morph into a noisy downtown nightclub. That led to a discussion of the proliferation of alcohol-sales licenses in downtown Redlands.

âThere are plenty of bars downtown, and weâre adding another one if we approve this,â said Commissioner Carol Dwyer.

But itâs up to the police chief, not the commission, to decide whether there are too many bars, Director of Development Services Oscar Orci said.

âIâm wondering which is the cart and which is the horse,?â Commissioner Ken Jeske said. âShouldnât public safety come first?â

The commissioners talked about delaying action until they could determine how many alcohol sales licenses already exist, and wondered how the requirements of a pending city ordinance that would further regulate bars and restaurants would affect the District Lounge approval.

Kramer objected, saying he already had been delayed by the requirement for a conditional-use permit. As a fulltime paramedic working for AMR, Kramer said, heâs very aware of the problems bars can cause and doesnât want his vapor lounge to contribute to that.

âWe want to create something that doesnât exist. We want to bring in a different crowd, not the wild, crazy, loud people,â Kramer said. âThis is more of an adult place where people can enjoy something that isnât widely accepted yet.â

Commissioner Steve Frasher said he was concerned that the panel was changing the rules on Kramer.

âHe has met all the requirements as they exist today, and I think weâre moving the goal post on him,â he said.

The commission approved the permit on a 4-3 vote, with additional requirements for security cameras, compliance with city noise rules and the stipulation that live music performances end one hour before the business closes.

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